Tile

Final Project is second photo  I am having a slight technical problem with Safari....

Photo of West Texas that inspired

Final Project Clay tile Bas-relief  8" Square Photo 1

Photo 2 Embroidery - West Texas desert. Inspiration & memories of my mother’s embroidery instruction 9" X 6"

Paper tile/collages  3 -  9" squares Photo 3

Photo of clouds

Martha Gluck – Final Project Clay tile 8 inch square – photo 1

When first deciding on a project during this course I was reminded during one chapter and discussion of my mother teaching me embroidery so I first started thinking/musing by doing something I had not done for a while, practicing some stitches with one of my mothers embroidery hoops and tried to remember as many stitches as I could.  I think in time I might pick this up again it was quite addicting but also a bit confining.  I looked at the colors of south Texas greens in the desert landscape that seem almost absent and stark but then on closer look are very vivid..  (Photo 2)  So I stitched off and on for a while.

In Reflecting over the textbook I kept coming back to a chapter in the beginning and  it did bring  me to my inspiration , Chapman Mercer, and the text statement that “He came to believe that folk art and fine art are inseparable”.  I feel this way as the arts are variable and at times personal or important especially to the creator and the appreciator.   I also just really liked the graphic quality of the tile depicted in the text of a man “Reaping with a Sickle” (page 55).  The tiles Mercer and Moravian Pottery are known for include many like the one depicted and others much more detailed.  His tiles and his story are interesting to me as he had such a wide range of interests and passion for each mission he gave himself.  I was impressed that he wanted to encourage craft traditions that were fading, though he was not so successful at it.  But he did successfully create a pottery the Moravian Pottery that continued until 1964.

First I made paper collages (photo 3)   based on my visits to West Texas &  photographs I have taken when visiting. (sample photo 4) I was basically working on paper tiles designs.   Initially in craft paper and cardboard and then in watercolor paper..   I love the colors of the west Texas landscape but found that what impressed me the most was the shadows, which seem to create a connection with the landscape and the sky making the atmosphere something I felt part of.  Though I do love the colors I found it was the feeling/atmosphere that got me and it was somehow colorless so I choose to use white paper and porcelain clay . But I kept coming back to how much I enjoyed reading about Mercer and how he created a museum based on artifacts from everyday life. I also loved how he used fabricated cement to create in one case a building to house his  collection. 

This inspired me to want to cut and place my paper and fabric and collection of rusted metal.  But I finally decided that I wanted to create a tile based on my white paper “tiles”.  My tile is a bas-relief and white, not a pressed or a counter relief tile, which is what I read Mercer’s described as.  Mercers wanted  or appreciated that his tiles to look handmade and I think his tiles were an interesting complement to the stark concrete they were in many cases set in. 

I loved working with the clay and  the immediacy of it… that is until you wait for it to come out of the Kiln.  This progress toward making the tile gave me a sense of freedom.  Though it also did reminded me of how much more I need to know about glazes etc. (especially since my current experience is with 5^th grade elementary students).  Initially I starting a sort of cookie cutter design so I could make additional tiles easily and grout in the traditional way and use the tiles on an old table.  But I really wanted to carve and do a relief . I decided to try to carve in the clay using my collages as my initial designs. 

This project and the ending of this course have coincided with a decision to move to West Texas this summer.  This was unexpected as when we considered a move,  we always thought we would do it in about 5-10 years .  This means I won’t be able to attend Junction this summer and I am very disappointed, mainly as I will not be able to meet all of you in Junction.   I do plan to continue in this program and attend Junction next year.  The best thing about this course has been reading the postings and being inspired by them.  I look forward to meeting you in Junction next year.

Martha

Makers A History of American Studio Art  Janet Koplos and Bruce Metcalf

The Center for Craft, Creativity and Design 2010

Interesting sites to get a glimpse of Henry Chapman Mercer’s buildings and tiles

http://syracusethenandnow.org/Architects/Mercer/HCMercer.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgmWqDxRCVI